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Loop - The Distress Call is an ambitious sounding Sci-fi narrative game for iOS with 20 possible endings

Save a ship and its crew through the power of texting!

Loop - The Distress Call is an ambitious sounding Sci-fi narrative game for iOS with 20 possible endings

Loop is an upcoming Sci-fi, choose-your-own-adventure game from Advenworks. The story has been penned by an American writer called Estee Lee-Mountel and it follows a female protagonist called Althea Young. 

You don't play as Althea though, instead, players will take on the role of an unseen investigator who is responding to a distress signal sent out by her spaceship after it was sent on a collision course with a brown dwarf. Whatever event caused this to happen has rendered the rest of the crew incoherent or, in some cases, hostile, meaning Althea is the only one who can save them.

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You'll have to help her remotely as you both try to discover the secrets behind what happened to her ship. This is done by collecting various clues and pieces of evidence. This all plays out, mostly, though a series of text messages between you and Althea where you'll have a choice of 4 responses to anything she sends you.

The developers say that there are no straightforward good or bad choices and instead you'll have to consider Althea's probable state of mind at the time before you respond. The relationship you build with her throughout Loop will apparently influence the ending just as much as the evidence you find whilst exploring the ship.

The game plays out in real-time, with Althea sending you messages even when you're away. You can even choose not to respond to her if you wish, though this will, of course, affect the story. This has been done to attempt to create a sense of suspense as you anxiously await her responses after a potentially perilous situation and create a sense of urgency in responding.

According to the developers, there are over 1000 paths that the narrative can go down with around 20 different endings they can lead to. It certainly sounds very interesting and I'm looking forward to playing it when it releases. 

Loop will be available over the App Store on 13th February. It will be a premium game that costs $4.99. For more information as the game approaches release you can follow the official Twitter account for updates. 

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Stephen Gregson-Wood
Stephen Gregson-Wood
Stephen brings both a love of games and a very formal-sounding journalism qualification to the Pocket Gamer team.